Military Wives' 'Wherever You Are' wins Christmas No.1 chart race

The Military Wives Choir and Gareth Malone have been crowned as this year's Christmas number one with their song 'Wherever You Are'.

The group triumphed over tracks such as Little Mix's 'Cannonball', Lou Monte's 'Dominick the Donkey', 'Paradise' by Coldplay and Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' in the race for the festive top spot.

Malone formed the Military Wives Choir - which comprises the wives, partners and girlfriends of serving armed forces members - for his BBC Two factual show The Choir: Military Wives. He offered his congratulations to the choir on Twitter, writing: "Congratulations ladies. You did it. Be very very proud. Gxxxx."

Little Mix drop one place to number two, while Coldplay slide three places to number five.

Lou Monte's 'Dominick the Donkey' enters the Top 40 at number three following a campaign by BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles. The track shifted nearly 93,000 copies and makes the UK chart for the first time since its original release 51 years ago. YouTube sensation Alex Day sold almost 53,000 copies of his self-released single 'Forever Yours' to take fourth place.

Elsewhere, Olly Murs drops three places to six with 'Dance With Me Tonight', while Rihanna and Calvin Harris slide five to tenth place in the chart. Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' just misses the Top 10 following a Facebook campaign to make it Christmas number one, charting at number 11.